XOPL.com

do you hear what i hear

Xopl — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:01:15 +0000

Twitter is the "web20" death knell.

Buckets of VC money being poured into a company that isn't profitable and has no practical business model? Why does that sound so familiar?

Even their Fail Whale is ironically symbolic. It represents social network bloat, and the crushing weight of having more users than you can develop for or afford.

Don't get me wrong, just like with the web 1.0 bubble burst, some websites will survive, and the technologies and patterns developed in this era will endure into the next, albeit refined.

But the bubble burst is coming, and I don't think it'll wait much longer than until 2011.

All the industry people I've talked to are not only living in Egypt -- with river front property -- but the things coming out of their mouths are the exact same things that caused the web 1.0 collapse. It amazes me.

The recent Higher Ed obsession with social networks and "web20" also serves as a reminder that the end is nigh. As soon as Higher Ed starts doing anything, it is already on the way out.

On the other hand, if we see Government spending big bucks on social networking and "web20" projects then we'll know it is already dead.

So what's this Chicken Little think we should all do then, you ask?

Pick out the real best practices from web20, and ignore the hype. Trust your gut. Get yourself a stable job for a company with a real business model before 2011. And, start looking beyond web20 towards The Next Big Thing (hint hint: Mobile Web).

I'll see you all in the unemployment lines in 2012, and then again at the top of the web 3-point-naught bubble in 2020.

Technology is nothing if not predictable.

that's not blood, it's...

Xopl — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 23:28:18 +0000

...Campbell's Tomato Soup.

Pretty much the greatest thing ever.

pint of the black stuff guvnah

Xopl — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:22:29 +0000

My god......... 11 imperial pints of 5% beer is more alcohol than an entire 750 mL bottle of 80 proof vodka.

I'm still processing this.

The retrospective implications are astounding.

moustache moustache ride

Xopl — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 17:07:02 +0000

Dani and I are off to the Man Man show tonight, and then I'm off to Chicago tomorrow.

Bark like a dog twice if you need anything while I'm gone.

like the corner of my mind

Xopl — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:59:02 +0000

Memory to never forget:

Moving into current my apartment. My real TV still back at the old apartment being watched by the old roommates. No furniture. No table. No TV stand.

But I did have a 4" Sony portable TV from the 80's with RCA AV inputs, an NES, and a floor to lay on.

And beer.

Glory. Sweet sweet glory.

Also, Mr. 74 helped me coin a new word:

ten•trance n.

1. The entrance to a tent.

it's my website and i'll cry if i want to

Xopl — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:45:44 +0000

I was too embarrassed by my six year old HTML to go on.

So... until I get around to redesigning this site... PARTY LIKE IT IS NINETEEN NINETY-SIX!

pbs = people's bullshit?

Xopl — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 18:59:47 +0000

Dear Judy on NewsHour,

I was shocked and very frustrated to listen to statements made by some of Judy's guests on the March 19 episode of NewsHour, because they were not factual and went unchecked by other guests.

One guest made the comment that citizens of Iraq who were previously afraid for their lives because of Saddam Hussein can now "go out shopping." This is a ridiculous assertion given the level of violence in Iraq during the last 5 years. One million Iraqis have been killed in the 5 years of the current Iraq war versus the very aggressive estimate of one million Iraqis killed in the over 20 years of Saddam's reign. (And 500,000 of those one million were killed in the Iran-Iraq war, which the U.S. backed.)

Another guest questioned where the "blood for oil" argument comes from because the cost of oil is "at an all time high." Oil companies are posting record profits, with each year beating their previous year's record profits. The war has been extremely profitable for oil companies, and many United States politicians have significant ties, investments, or other involvement with oil companies.

Finally, a guest defending Iraq war spending made the assertion that the Constitution charged the U.S. government with providing national security, and then moved on to say that the government should be expected to tighten its belt when times are tough, not spend more. We are fighting the Iraq war using funds borrowed from Asia and other foreign sources. We are not being fiscally responsible.

me

connect the dots

Xopl — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:01:05 +0000

Meteor in Portland

Navy Waits for Satellite Kill Shot

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

Huge meteor tears across early-morning sky

Weather May Delay Satellite Shot

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM...

anything but that

Xopl — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 10:29:51 +0000

semantic sombitch

Xopl — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 22:02:21 +0000

So I was thinking about the abso-fucking-lutely disgusting Orwellian semantic parsing of chinese water torture as not that but an "enhanced interrogation technique." (I can't even type it without my blood boiling.)

So if we can sell torturing people to the public by calling it "enhanced interrogation techniques" instead, what else could we do with this fun word game?

Well... you could maybe rob a bank and tell the judge it was just an "enhanced withdrawal technique."

But that isn't quite spiteful enough against President Shitforbrains.

Here's one for you: how about the House passes a resolution and set of charges, that is then passed on to the Senate for a vote and verdict, for the purposes of removing Bush from office.

What's that Nancy Pelosi? Impeachment is off the table? No, No... I'm talking about an "enhanced oversight technique." Totally fucking different.

Oh... and did you know that evidence obtained through water torture probably hasn't been used in a trial since the Spanish Inquisition? Go us!